Meaning & use
they read
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Meanings
verbtransitive or intransitive
used with 'they' to talk about looking at and understanding written words in the present.
Grammar: The form is the same as the base form; the third person singular would be 'reads', but with 'they' you use 'read'.
Patterns
- they read something
- they read to someone
They read the newspaper every morning before work.
My parents are teachers, so they read a lot of student essays.
They read to their children at bedtime.
verbtransitive or intransitive
used with 'they' to talk about looking at and understanding written words in the past.
Grammar: The past tense is spelled the same as the present but pronounced /red/.
Patterns
- they read something
- they read about something
They read the whole book in one weekend.
Yesterday they read the instructions carefully before starting.
They read about the accident in the local paper.
Common combinations
- they read aloud
- In class, they read aloud from the textbook.
- they read the news
- They read the news online every day.
- they read a book
- They read a book together before bed.
- they read between the lines
- They read between the lines and understood the real message.
Commonly confused: they read or reed? they read or red?
they read vs reed
A reed is a tall grass-like plant. It sounds like the present tense of 'read' but has a completely different meaning.
they read vs red
Red is a color. It sounds like the past tense of 'read' but is not related in meaning.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence:
Choose one answer.
'They' takes the base form 'read' for both present and past (pronounced /red/ in the past). 'Reads' is for he/she/it; 'reading' needs a helper verb; 'readed' is not a word.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “they read”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.